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From Deadspin to his home town paper, the Baltimore Sun, writers are taking their shots at the great Ray Lewis.

Actually, they aren’t shots so much as grenades.

The other day I penned a tongue-in-cheek piece about the top 10 reasons to cheer for the Ravens. One of the reasons I was going to list was Sunday being Lewis’ last game and all, but then I gave my head a shake and thought “Am I nuts?” Lewis is a reason to despise the Ravens.

What is so irksome about Lewis — beyond his involvement in Atlanta 13 years ago when two men died and he skated like O.J. Simpson — is how seriously he takes himself. How he shrouds himself in piety. How he no longer talks like a normal human being, but makes proclamations, utters homilies upon profundities in sanctimonious tones as though he is giving his own Sermon on the Mount.

Following are a few of his deeper messages from over the years:

* “Every day of my life, I’m trying to find a different way to get better.”

* “In any war, you put your back to mine, I put my back to yours, and let’s do what we gotta do.”

* “You’ve got to go out and show them that I’m a different creature now, than I was five minutes ago, ’cause I’m pissed off for greatness. ’Cause if you ain’t pissed off for greatness, that just means you’re okay with being mediocre.”

* “My pain is my badge of honour.”

* “I prepare so no one can take what is mine, no one can replace my mind, my heart.”

* “You take five fingers. Individually, I can pin any one of them, but if I pin them together (makes a fist), it’s damn near impossible to turn this around.”

* “All I know is grind.”

* “If tomorrow wasn’t promised, what would you give for today?”

* “Wins and losses come a dime a dozen. But effort? Nobody can judge that. Because effort is between you and you.”

And here’s one of my favourites:

* “I ride my bicycle all the time. There’s one thing about my bicycle. I’m riding, I’m riding, I’m riding. And no matter how tired I start to get, it’s never about this pedal I’m pedaling, it’s about the next pedal, and if you can get to that next one, your bike will keep moving.”

Please, just stop.

The article in Deadspin got right to it in a big way with the headline: HATER’S GUIDE TO RAY LEWIS.

Among other things the article opines: “No one disputes that Lewis should be a Hall of Famer, and I guess we can all agree that he’s a good leader. What is in dispute is whether he’s an overrated, self-aggrandizing sack of s--- who throws God in your face any time you accuse him of being anything less than a saint.’

It doesn’t stop there. Further down, the author pens: “Ray Lewis is a cheap televangelist. People who flaunt their faith the loudest are very often the biggest phonies ... And this is why Ray Lewis comes across as nothing so much as a muscular Jim Bakker with an arm brace. He uses his faith to wrap himself in unearned virtue.’

Okay, there’s no surprise when a website such as Deadspin puts the boots to someone like Lewis. But his hometown paper?

Mike Preston is a columnist for the Baltimore Sun and he’s been around Lewis his entire career. This week he wrote that he can’t take it any more.

Preston wrote:

‘Lewis’ handlers or the Ravens public relations staff needs to get Lewis to tone down the theatrics a little ... I was glad to see the Ravens pay Lewis a great tribute during his final home game against the Indianapolis Colts. He deserved to have a day and one more dance. The victory lap was a little extreme, but if Cal Ripken Jr. deserved a victory lap, so did Lewis.

“But this crying, praying, quoting Scripture and dropping to his knees during the past two games has gone too far.

“I believe Lewis is serious about his show of emotion. I will never question his commitment to Christianity or his love for God.

“But I’ve watched Lewis for 17 years, and while he is the ultimate team guy, he is also the ultimate ‘I’ guy. He loves his fellow players, but Ray Lewis loves him some Ray Lewis, which is why he talks about himself in the third person.

“He likes the theatre and loves to be a showman, but when is enough, enough?”

Exactly.

However, all the criticism in the world won’t make Lewis tone it down a bit. This is his last dance and he is going to play it up for all it’s worth.

It’s show time and he’s a star.

Or as he likes to say:

* “We get one opportunity in life, one chance at life to do whatever you’re going to do, and lay your foundation and make whatever mark you’re going to make. Whatever legacy you’re going to leave, leave your legacy!”

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Enough already, Ray Lewis

From Deadspin to his home town paper, the Baltimore Sun, writers are taking their shots at the great Ray Lewis.

Actually, they aren’t shots so much as grenades.

The other day I penned a tongue-in-cheek piece about the top 10 reasons to cheer for the Ravens. One of the reasons I was going to list was Sunday being Lewis’ last game and all, but then I gave my head a shake and thought “Am I nuts?” Lewis is a reason to despise the Ravens.

What is so irksome about Lewis — beyond his involvement in Atlanta 13 years ago when two men died and he skated like O.J. Simpson — is how seriously he takes himself. How he shrouds himself in piety. How he no longer talks like a normal human being, but makes proclamations, utters homilies upon profundities in sanctimonious tones as though he is giving his own Sermon on the Mount.